Evening digest: US lawmakers stall sale of fighter jets to Pakistan

The US Congress has stalled a planned sale of eight new F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
According to reports in Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the stalling reflects anti-Pakistan sentiments on Capitol Hill. The US lawmakers used clarification and information notices to delay the sale, the report said.
The Obama administration is reported to be keen on selling these aircraft to Pakistan. At recent Congressional hearings, key US lawmakers raised a host of questions about the end use of the F-16 aircraft and about US relationship with Pakistan. The Obama administration had informally notified Congress of its intention to sell eight F-16s to Pakistan during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Washington in October last year.

Pathankot-like attacks would continue to happen, says Musharraf
Former president General (retired) Pervez Musharrafnot has said that “India is over-reacting on Pathankot attack case” but also added that “such kind of attacks will continue to happen in future.”
"Terrorism is prevalent in both India and Pakistan. We are also victims of the same so we should not over react to what happened in Pathankot. Yes, of course we want to control such incidents, but one should get hyper over such incidents," he said.
Although Pakistan has yesterday hinted that the foreign-secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan may be defered, Musharraf said, “India can not threaten us by putting conditions ahead of such interactive sessions.”
Accusing New Delhi of creating pressure on Islamabad when it came to terror attacks, the former president alleged that terrorism and extremism was quite prevalent in India as well.
"India simply can't create pressure on Pakistan when it comes to terrorism. We may be a small country but we have honour of our own. There are lots of areas in India where extremism is rampant. India always treats terrorism as a one-sided issue and that infuriates me. They can't just bulldoze us when something happens there," Musharraf said.
Further hitting out at prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, the former president said, “Indian PM may be a 'bold man' but he should keep his boldness withing his country.”
BHEL, 11 other PSUs running in losses: Anant Geete
Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete today said that out of 32 public sector undertakings (PSUs) under his ministry, 12 including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited are running in losses.
"Out of 32 PSUs under my (heavy industries) ministry, 12 including BHEL were running in losses," he told reporters in Bhopal. He said BHEL, a maharatna company, will come out of the financial distress in a year as it got orders worth Rs 28,000 crore this year.
To a query, Geete blamed the alleged coal scam under the previous UPA government for the ill-health of BHEL.

Foreign secretary in Sri Lanka for talks
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived here today to hold talks with the top Sri Lankan leadership and officials on a host of issues including setting of agenda of the Indo-Lanka Joint Commission meeting next month.
Jaishankar, who arrived from the Maldives, is expected to meet his Sri Lankan counterpart and call on Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is expected to hold talks on the Indo-Lanka Joint Commission and tour the northern province capital of Jaffna.

Jayalalithaa launches e-Seva centres in Chennai
e-seva centres, through which people can get a host of services closer to their respective localities, were launched across the city by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today.
She formally launched 126 e-Seva centres across Chennai through video conferencing facility from the secretariat.
Various government services like payment of property tax, birth or death certificates can be availed of from the centres, the release said. It said the Centres would also accept cash payment of electricity bills
Ashok Chawla joins law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has roped in former Competition Commission Chairman Ashok Chawla as a member on its Strategic Advisory Board.
After being at the helm of the fair trade regulatory body for over four years, he had superannuated on January 7.
He would be joining Infosys Co-Founder N R Narayana Murthy, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, Kotak Mahindra Bank Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director Uday Kotak, who are already advisory members.

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